Ratatouille – a legitimate vegetable mélange

I have a habit of randomly throwing vegetables in a pan together and calling it a meal, and that doesn’t always work out very well. So, when I ran across an actual recipe which involves legitimately mixing vegetables — with a video — I got pretty excited. The fact that it is a “recette facile,” or “easy recipe” just made it better. If you speak french, you can find the recipe and handy video here, if not, you should keep on reading…

First I chopped up two zucchini which I cooked over medium heat for about 7-8 minutes in some olive oil.

chopped zucchini

Next, I did the same thing to an eggplant, and a green and red pepper. The original recipe says to cook all the vegetables separately until the end, because the flavors are stronger. I think you could mix it all together initially if you were in a time pinch, but I’m also not French.

eggplant

the partially cooked vegetables: zucchini, peppers, eggplant

Finally, I sliced up 3 tomatoes and three shallots (which i substituted for an onion), cooked them in a bit of olive oil and then mixed the whole thing together, added some thyme and bay leaves (these spices can be found as a bundle or “un bouquet garni” at Monoprix on Rue du Commerce next to the spicy peppers and vegetables, among other places) turned the heat down and let it cook for about 35 minutes on low heat, stirring it every few minutes. (Towards the end I added some salt to taste.)